The discount will apply at checkout. I’ll also be releasing new patterns that will be perfect for quick Christmas gifts or to make for yourself and your family–keep your eye out for them, they’ll be here in a few days! There will be an exciting, fun new Pokemon Inspired pattern later this week, and The Crunchy Carrot Market Bag is will be in the Pattern Store this weekend.Slippers, socks, a scarf, a washcloth/soap sack spa set, toys…lots of new designs coming in September, as well as a MYSTERY CROCHET-ALONG and KNIT-ALONG!

If you need more inspiration meantime, you can check out the Interweave Store!

Save 30% on hundreds of crafting resources. No coupon needed. Sale runs now through 9/5. Some exclusions apply. In addition, be sure to also check out the just released Atoll Cowl Kit. It is on sale, too, and the link is on the right, just below the “Interweave Store” tab.

Happy Labour Day…enjoy this weekend, and let me know if you need help with any of my designs. The quickest way to get help is usually to write a personal message on my Facebook Page: West Coast Fibre Arts

Sign up now for “Victoria’s Secrets” mini mystery: you can knit it, crochet it, weave it, or sew it! From now until the 31 May/2015 it is just $1.00, instead of the regular price of $2.95–use the coupon code found on the pattern page. One pattern will show you all these options to make a quick little accessory based on a Victorian sewing pattern! You can use any yarn, with the right sized needles or hook–because you will cast on or make the beginning chain a certain length, instead of a specified number of stitches 🙂 You can use weaving sticks to make them…or upcycle a felted wool sweater; try making a shabby chic/boho set, too!

If you want to purchase a set of weaving sticks they are $4 each in sets, minimum of 4 sticks

(4 for $16, or 6 for $24, 8 for $32): hand made from local Comox Valley wood. Ships within 7-10 days. For the Victoria’s Secret pattern I am using 8 weaving sticks.

These are handcrafted from Vancouver Island reclaimed wood sticks, each one is unique and special! No two are identical, and will have slight bends and some will have some inner bark left on. Just send me a private message on Facebook and I’ll get back to you with a Paypal invoice that includes shipping to your postal code/zip code. Weaving sticks are easy to use and a lot of fun for making scarves, too! Even young children can use them.

They are fun for making “skinny scarves” using as few as 4 sticks; you can use several strands of yarn at once to make weaving really fast! Great stashbusters! There are more photos here on my Facebook page.

This week’s Victorian Flower pattern is a motif that forms part of an 1888 Victorian era “Mat” or d’oyley. I’ll rewrite the whole pattern, soon , and include it in a book of designs inspired by this Friday Flowers series.

As a motif the flower can be used to adorn hats, headbands, or bags; you can add crochet chains from each side and use them as a gift tie, as I have done on this crocheted lace washcloth. They can be made with thread or with yarn–just use the hook that you’d normally use with the weight of yarn, remembering that you want the work to be quite tight so that the petals hold their shape.

Be sure to come back next week to see what the new Friday’s Flower will be!

They are both based on a stitch pattern I found in a Victorian era women’s magazine. The original design was for a very small d’oyley meant to be used on a ladies’ dressing or ‘toilet’ table, worked in cotton crochet thread. My thread version, using size 10 thread and a 1.25mm hook , is about 4 inches across.

The cowls and the cloths both work up very quickly. The cloths can be made either with the magic circle beginning pulled tightly closed or left loose as in the original design. I have used it this way as a perfect eco-friendly paper towel substitute, as a stack of them fit onto a countertop paper towel holder–you just have to find one that doesn’t have a nob on the top! You can make the cloths any size you like by working more or fewer rounds. I used Bernat Handicrafter cotton for most of my cloths, with a 5mm hook. A pair of cloths with a bar of locally made, eco-friendly artisan soap would be a very nice little holiday gift; so would a stack of them on a countertop holder for your eco-conscious friends or family!

The cowls I made are about 30 inches around the neck, and 7 inches deep. Their size, too, can easily be adjusted. To make them longer or shorter around the neck–or if you are using a larger or smaller hook than the 7mm hook I used–just start with more or less chain stitches: just remember you need to start with a multiple of 4 stitches. You can make the cowl longer by working more rounds. They are so quick to make that you could easily make them as lovely gifts for Christmas.

If you make either or both of these patterns and need any help or find any errors, please contact me. The quickest way to get in touch is usually a personal message on my West Coast: Super, Natural Facebook Page.

I will be adding several cowls on my Facebook Page that are ready to purchase. Please ask if you would like to order one in a certain colour, wool or acrylic yarn, etc.

The “Entwisted Cloth” free pattern, designed to thank all my followers and fans on Facebook for “1000 Likes Milestone Reached” is now available in my Ravelry Pattern Store. Please take a moment to add it to your Favourites in Ravelry and feel free to share the link on Facebook.

This cloth is knitted with a simple but really effective knitted mesh lace that I found in a Victorian book from 1871. There are a lot of photos–so if you are a beginning knitter you can make this cloth. All you need to know is cast on, knit, slip a stitch, yarn forward, knit 2 together, and cast off. If you haven’t done a yarn over or a knit 2 together, there is a photo tutorial at the end of the pattern to show how to do them.

Soon there will be another design in “A Victorian Potpourri for Bed and Bath” that uses this stitch pattern, and making a cloth is a really useful way to learn new stitches. I think this cloth in the size I made only used about 25g of worsted weight Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (with 5mm needles), so you could make a set of 3 from a ball of cotton–a lovely gift for someone on your Christmas gift, if you wrap it up with a bar of locally handcrafted soap!

Today is the beginning of the Tour de Fleece. I’m in Team Canada and getting set to spin a few yards. My Tour de Fleece goal is to spin all the yarn I need for my “Pelerine Elisabeth” which is a cape-like garment I am re-working from a Victorian-era French design. And I don’t read or speak French, even though I live in an officially bi-lingual country…oops. Maybe my secondary goal should be to learn to speak French a little, too, even a phrase or word a day! Eh!

As well, today, I am finishing the pattern for another “A Victorian Potpourri for Bed and Bath” design. The “Entwisted Cloth” will be a free pattern offered to thank all my followers and fans on Facebook for “1000 Likes Milestone Reached” It is a simple but really effective knitted mesh lace that I found in a Victorian book from 1871. There will be tons of photos–so if you are a beginning knitter you can make this cloth. All you need to know is cast on, knit, slip a stitch, yarn forward, knit 2 together, and cast off. If you haven’t done a yarn over or a knit 2 together, a photo will show you the how it looks. Always remember to search on Google or on Youtube for tutorials for these basic knitting instructions too. They are the basics of all lace knitting, and they open up a new world from basic stockinette stitch (knit one row, then purl one row) or garter stitch (knit every row).

I made a very simple crocheted edging on my cloth, but you don’t have to do that if you don’t know how to crochet or prefer it without it. I also show what it would look like with just a row of single crochet around the edges, or a chain loop edging.

This stitch pattern will be used in another larger project in the Victorian Potpourri for Bed and Bath series, and making a cloth is a useful way to learn the stitch. Tomorrow I will be publishing another free cloth pattern as a “1000 Likes Milestone Reached” thank you for Facebook followers! It will be based on a Victorian crochet stitch pattern and will also be used in a larger project later on.

The patterns for the Ocean Spray Cloth and the 1888 Slumber Slippers may already be found in my RAVELRY PATTERN STORE as instant Pdf downloads for just $1.95 each.

These Slumber Slippers are adapted from an 1888 Victorian design, re-designed to be made with any yarn and in any size. Directions are included so that you can easily make a pair using any weight of yarn with the appropriate hook, from baby to mens large size!

I made Women’s Medium size, with chunky weight acrylic yarn and a 6.5mm hook. It used about 70g of the main colour (green) and 30g of the contrast colour (pink). The second pair of slippers is a 1-3 year size, and used about 50g of yarn. There are lots of photos so making these slippers is easy! If you find any errors or need any help please write to me on the comment form or write a message on Facebook or Ravelry and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can–I check my mail boxes at least once a day.